October 8, 2010, Washington, DC – The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) today announced that its Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) has established eight (8) principles surrounding the possible sharing of information pertaining to interconnected VoIP and Broadband ISP networks.
In anticipation of possible FCC activity to propose Federal rules pertaining to the reporting of outages on Interconnected VoIP and Broadband ISP networks, the NRSC met with FCC officials to discuss the principles that had been developed through the NRSC’s open, consensus-based process. The following principles provide a basis for the industry’s future work:
Principle 1: Jurisdictional issues must be addressed before the FCC adopts any rules pertaining to the reporting of interconnected VoIP and broadband internet service providers.
Principle 2: The FCC’s existing Part 4 outage reporting rules should not be applied to interconnected VoIP providers or broadband ISPs.
Principle 3: While ATIS NRSC recognizes the FCC has a desire for visibility into events and conditions in broadband networks that could potentially impact homeland security and public safety, any future guidelines for information exchange on these events or conditions should be voluntary, evolutionary, reasonable, and implemented based on existing measurements that interconnected VoIP or broadband internet service providers utilize to internally monitor and/or track these events or conditions.
Principle 4: Broadband information exchange guidelines should be developed through a strong collaborative government-industry relationship.
Principle 5: Information exchange guidelines should be developed on a standard network architecture proposal. A set of architecture references, such as Access, Metro, and National areas, should be defined as a basis for developing broadband information exchange guidelines, to include standard terminology and definitions.
Principle 6: Broadband information exchange guidelines should establish thresholds and timeframes that are achievable and create a level playing field for all interconnected VoIP and broadband internet service providers.
Principle 7: An end user’s perception of broadband reliability is dependent on the user’s selection of product type and category of service, and is also heavily dependent on the end user’s equipment, maintenance practices, and technical expertise.
Principle 8: The industry should continue to have a role in evaluating and providing feedback/input on any information and information exchange mechanisms pertaining to interconnected VoIP and broadband internet service providers.
The principles were submitted by the NRSC to the FCC during a meeting on Wednesday, October 6.
“The NRSC’s development of these principles demonstrates the willingness and ability of the industry to work collaboratively despite regulatory uncertainties,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “The ICT industry is committed to ensuring consumers’ needs are consistently met through robust and reliable networks and systems.”
About the Network Reliability Steering Committee
The Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) strives to improve network reliability by providing timely consensus-based technical and operational expert guidance to all segments of the public communications industry. As a trusted expert, the NRSC addresses network reliability improvement opportunities in an open, noncompetitive environment. It advises the communications industry through developing and issuing standards, technical requirements, technical reports, bulletins, best practices, and annual reports.
About ATIS
ATIS is the leading technical planning and standards development organization committed to the rapid development of global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and communications industry. More than 250 companies actively formulate standards in ATIS’ 18 Committees, covering issues including: IPTV, Service Oriented Networks, Home Networking, Energy Efficiency, IP-Based and Wireless Technologies, Quality of Service, Billing and Operational Support. In addition, numerous Incubators, Focus and Exploratory Groups address emerging industry priorities including “Green”, IP Downloadable Security, Next Generation Carrier Interconnect, IPv6 and Convergence.
ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio and Telecommunications’ Sectors, and a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, please visit www.atis.org.
